Are You Surprised by Whom Star Wars Fans Have Voted as Their Favorite New Character?

Rotten Tomatoes is currently running a poll letting fans pick their favorite new addition to the Star Wars universe. The results are a little surprising. You might think BB-8, the adorable and highly merchandisable droid would win this one hands down. Or maybe you’d put your money on Kylo Ren, the fantasy goth prince who launched a fantastic fake Twitter account and a thousand pieces of fan art. Or maybe Poe Dameron or Finn, two halves of everyone’s favorite Force Awakensduo. But, sorry, lads, it’s the lonely girl from Jakku who zoomed off with everyone’s heart.

That is, of course, as it should be. Rey is the lead performer in the movie and perfect blend of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. In other words, she can wield a lightsaber, fly the Millennium Falcon, and loudly declare her independence as she does so. What’s not to love? Especially given the frankly misogynist Internet pushback on Rey being too great, it’s been tough to remember that the toxic online echo chamber doesn’t speak for the world as a whole. This is a great reminder: Rey isn’t just winning this poll, she is, at the time of publishing this post, winning it in a landslide.

This Rotten Tomatoes pollalso doesn’t speak for the world as a whole, we realize. Only 71,499 of the millions and millions of people who have seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens have voted so far. But some box-office analysts are crediting Rey for the films enormous box-office success. As The Hollywood Reporter puts it:

While males continue to show up in force, increased interest among
women and girls is another key reason why Force Awakens — featuring
a strong female heroine in Daisy Ridley’s character, Rey — will
soon overtake the $760 million earned by 2009’s Avatar domestically
to become the top-grossing film of all time in the U.S. and Canada.

Audiences for The Force Awakens have included more women in its second week, and, clearly, something important has awakened in the Star Wars fandom.

First Order officer Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) surveys the rubble following an attack.

Photo: Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

A small galaxy’s worth of tracking dots affixed to Lupita Nyong’o’s face allowed artists at Industrial Light & Magic to transform her into the C.G.I. character Maz Kanata.

Photo: Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Next-generation bad guy Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) commands snowtroopers loyal to the evil First Order on the frozen plains of their secret base.

Photo: Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Actress Daisy Ridley for a scene in which her character, the young heroine Rey, pilots her speeder through a bustling marketplace on the planet Jakku.

Photo: Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Members of the brain trust behind The Force Awakens: composer John Williams, producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, co-writer Lawrence Kasdan, and director and co-writer Abrams, photographed at Bad Robot, Abrams’s production company, in Santa Monica.

Photo: Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Galactic travelers, smugglers, and other assorted riffraff fill the main hall of pirate Maz Kanata’s castle.

First Order officer Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) surveys the rubble following an attack.

Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

A small galaxy’s worth of tracking dots affixed to Lupita Nyong’o’s face allowed artists at Industrial Light & Magic to transform her into the C.G.I. character Maz Kanata.

Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Next-generation bad guy Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) commands snowtroopers loyal to the evil First Order on the frozen plains of their secret base.

Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Actress Daisy Ridley for a scene in which her character, the young heroine Rey, pilots her speeder through a bustling marketplace on the planet Jakku.

Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Members of the brain trust behind The Force Awakens: composer John Williams, producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, co-writer Lawrence Kasdan, and director and co-writer Abrams, photographed at Bad Robot, Abrams’s production company, in Santa Monica.